Xavier Tilliette’s Short Biography

XAVIER TILLIETTE was born in 1921 at Corbie near Amiens (in Picardie, north of France). He became a Jesuit novice in Laval (Mayenne) in 1938. He graduated in Philosophy, Theology, and Classical Arts in Grenoble (1943), and in the German language in Lyons (1946) and was ordained a priest in 1951. He was appointed Professor of Philosophy (Phenomenology, Modern and Contemporary Philosophy) at the Jesuit School “St. Louis de Gonzague” in Paris (1947-49 and 1954-57), at the “Studium Theologicum” in Chantilly near Paris (1961-66) and at the Jesuit “Centre Sèvres” also in Paris.

From 1958 to 1970 he was sub-editor of the journal Études, and secretary and sub-editor of the journal Archîves de Philosophie. In 1969 he obtained a PhD in Philosophy (on Schelling) from the University of Paris, Sorbonne, his dissertation having been previously prepared in Germany. In 1993 he was awarded a PhD in Theology honoris causa in Naples. He became Professor Emeritus both at the Institut Catholique of Paris (where he held the chair of History of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy from 1969 to 1987) and at the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome (where he held a Professorship at the Faculty of Philosophy from 1972 to 2000 and lectured on German Idealism, Christian philosophy, philosophical Christology). Until 2003 he was Visiting Professor in many major universities—both state and religious—in Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and the USA.

Tilliette’s expertise ranges from the philosophies of Karl Jaspers, Gabriel Marcel, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jules Lequier, Paul Claudel, Maurice Blondel and Antonio Rosmini to the philosophies of Husserl, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel. He is also well read in the writings of contemporary Italian thinkers. His interests include Russian writers of the 19th century and recently, Vladimir Jankélévitch. As a young man, he was a film reviewer, especially of Ingmar Bergman’s pictures. Tilliette is the author of over 2000 academic publications and the winner of several awards: from Humboldt-Universität in Berlin, from the Académie Française (2001), from the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Munich (2002), and from the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques in Paris (2006).

In 2008 Xavier Tilliette left the Jesuit Residence of Rue de Grenelle in Paris to move to the Communauté Notre Dame, Lille, France.

Dr. Simone Stancampiano
University of Roma III
Italy